The Rest of College Football

[whodean]

I think Delaney will prevail here: Got to be a CC to get to the play-off. The tradeoff? The Rose gives up its tie in with the B1G, rotates with the rest of the bowls in the playoff format.

I would bet on the opposite.

[Hannibal]

If you guys think that interest in the bowls has declined -- wait and see what happens when you have a 4-team playoff (with first round home field) and two BCS games are hosting the losers of these playoff games, while everyone else plays in what has officially become an "NIT" type game. It won't be long before the playoff is 16 teams with automatic bids and the bowl games don't exist at all. Keep in mind that in this scenario, Michigan probably wouldn't have had a post season last year.

I disagree that the value of a BCS game has been diminished. They are still huge when they have deserving teams. They get shittier ratings nowadays because the traditional tie-ins have been wrecked and they play a bunch of games after New Year's. The BCS also currently suffers from the concentration of the elite teams into fewer conferences, a result of conference expansion. You could do away with auto bids, but then you have a bunch of new problems.

A playoff isn't going to solve any of collge football's current problems except for one -- it will expand the field of teams competing for the national championship from 2 to 4. Actually, that just slightly diminishes the problem. It doesn't really solve anything. It will still heavily depend upon voter subjectivity and style points. You are going to have controversial selections. If there are no conference auto bids, you could possibly have three teams from the SEC playing in a four team tournament. A 4-team, no autobid format would not have included a Big Ten team last year. It will probably never include an undefeated mid-major either.

People need to realize that a lot of college football's problems are the inevitable result of trying to pick a national champion out of 120 teams when they only play 12 games and they hardly have any common opponents to judge the teams by. There is no solution to this problem, other than to have a tournament so large that it destroys the value of the regular season.

[entropy]

and that 4 will be expanded to 8 within 4 yrs..

[Hannibal]

It will be 16 within 10. Mark it down.

[WM Wolverine]

CCG's already act as another round of playoffs...

My proposed plan long ago was to have a 4-team playoff AFTER the bowl games (which is really an 8-team playoff). 8-teams isn't too many in my view but 16 most certainly is.

[THE_WIZARD_]

50% of the bowls could disappear and few would give a rats arse. Hell 75% could disappear and most wouldn't even notice.

[whodean]

I think the Bowls have to be incorporated into the playoff system somehow.

[whodean]

50% of the bowls could disappear and few would give a rats arse. Hell 75% could disappear and most wouldn't even notice.

Simply just not true, the Bowls have significant financial ramifications for Schools, host cities and TV networks (and their advertisers)

[entropy]

whodean... the significant financial ramifications for schools works both ways. several lose money each year on bowls.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Most are a disaster. Most don't make money. The sponsors are not getting the bang for their buck. Viewership for most are abysmal. Attendance is bad for most. It would be better if the NCAA allowed for one more game for all schools during the season...one more out of conference game...it would mean more...be better attended...and generate more money for the schools with less expenses. They should allow for the early August games like they used to.

Most bowls are a joke.

[*JD*]

Wiz should've said "Few fans, outside of the schools involved, would gave a rat's arse." and I totally agree. I guess Vegas would care a little bit. I love football but it's rare that I'll watch a pre-NYD bowl game. I don't need to see K-State vs. Wyoming.

[entropy]

I watched almost all the bowl games last year. But I love CF... I even watched the lower division playoff games.

[THE_WIZARD_]

18 bowl games had fewer than 50,000 attend. Here is an exerpt from the USA Today:

Tuesday night's Sugar Bowl was the 30th of this season's 35 games, each of which also was played last season. The total attendance for those games is more than 2.5% lower this season than it was last season. If this trend holds for the remaining five games, the average bowl attendance for the season would fall to 50,542. That would be the lowest since 1978-79, when the number of games expanded to 15 from 13 and the average was 48,404. (In 2002-03, when the number of games expanded to 28 from 25, the average was 50,575.)
This season's attendance also is nearly 3% lower when compared against the previous five-season average for the 25 games played in each of those seasons.

Fewer are going and fewer are watching. This has been the trend since the BCS started. As we migrate more and more to a playoff the playoff games will be cash cows and the rest will be dogs....even more so than they are.

[THE_WIZARD_]

entropy...you really need a life. I care about 3 bowl games...the one our crew gets to do...the NC game...and the one NU plays in. Fuck the rest.

[whodean]

I watched almost all the bowl games last year. But I love CF... I even watched the lower division playoff games.

There's a lot of us out there.